Yankees selling directly to StubHub?

Less than a week after the team slashed prices for many of its premium tickets, hundreds of premium New York Yankees tickets are turning up on StubHub, and speculation is rising that the team or intermediaries may have posted them.

While there is no direct proof that the team is involved – as a policy, StubHub does not disclose seller information – large quantities of premium seats are not turning up on other broker Web sites or exchanges, only on StubHub, which gives the impression that the tickets are not coming from multiple sources.

I don’t think there are any rules against this, though I suppose it’s possible that it may put the Yankees’ sideways with Ticketmaster, the team’s primary ticket agent. More than anything else it’s just kinda pathetic. The latest public evidence of a massive and arrongant miscalculation in demand on the part of the Yankees.

Comments

I recently bought tickets to a Phillies game on StubHub and I’m almost sure they came from the team. I felt like I got a good deal, so I looked at the Phillies website and the section was not available, and there was no price listed.

I also recently got tickets to a Mets game on the day of the game at StubHub and I think they came from the team as well. They were $10 below face value!

As part of the ticket price slashing, certain premium ticketholders received additional premium seats instead of having their prices cut. Those ticketholders are probably the ones selling their new tickets on Stubhub.

Several years ago, I travelled to Chicago to go to Wrigley. Pretty much the entire season was sold out, but the resale brokers all over the neighborhood had tons of seats available, most at about double face value. I later learned that Tribune owned or was a partner in many of these businesses. I guess that thes places, including Stub Hub (which didn’t exist yet at that time) are good for the teams PR. Helps them give the appearance of consistency in pricing, even though the are making market adjustments throughout the season, in good times and bad…

BTW, I got great seats, that were around $26 face value, for $60. Not too bad a deal…..

A buddy of mine got two tickets to last night’s Yankee game on eBay for six bucks each. I think face value was something like $20 (they were pretty far up there, but not bad, really).

Word of warning, though, if anyone has any designs on taking the subway to a Yankee game after work. They do not allow men in with bags. For some reason, they allow women in with bags. I’ve gone to dozens of Mets games with my trusty shoulder/messenger bag in tow, but, no, not at Fortress Steinbrenner! The Yankees are the only team in baseball the audacity have a rule like that – and it would be absurd even if it were not discriminatory. The security at that place borders on ludicrous. Yet another reason why the Yankee organization is supremely arrogant, drunk on their own puffed-up hagiography.

Craig, some of those tickets might be from those corporations who own tons of those expensive seats but won’t attend the games out of fear of being seen (as described on IIATMS). That assumes that these big companies are more organized, on top of things and actually have some smart people working there…all big assumptions at this point.

Personally, I think those companies should donate the tix to underpriveleged kids (through suitable charities, of course)…they’d probably find a way to wrangle a tax writeoff and they’d get a ton of goodwill from people who otherwise want to lynch all of them.

I can’t believe that with all the lawyers that patronize Yankee Stadium a suit hasn’t been filed. Craig, don’t you have a NY colleague that you can speak to about this? I’d be willing to bet it wouldn’t take more than bringing it to a judge’s attention in a filing….

The real news out of Oakland was that the A’s moved some of their lineup around, and it seemed to work. Of course, the Babe Cust Grand Slam did wonders, and McCarthy acting like a typical Texas pitcher also contributed, but finally: Sweeney out of the leadoff spot.

Now if Giambi will just be dropped to 7th for another month. After that, we’ll see if he should be starting at all.

Jim: I had not gone to old Yankee Stadium since I was a kid, so I didn’t know about the rule. I’m a Met fan. Admittedly, my rant may have been a bit much (infused by my Mets fandom, no doubt), but it’s still an absurd rule.